United Fire & Casualty Company V. Gayle L

Gayle Kleppe and Beau Wold (collectively Kleppe) seek review of a court of appeals' decision which held that the Kleppe's monetary recovery from their uninsured motorist (UM) coverage could be reduced by sums paid or payable to the Kleppes fromGayle Kleppe's employer's worker's compensation carrier. The United Fire and Casualty Company's (UF& C's) insurance policy issued to Kleppe contained a reducing clause to this effect which the company sought to enforce. Kleppe argues that this court's prior case law mandates that clauses seeking to reduce compensation available to an insured under a UM policy are void and unenforceable if such reductions would be unavailable to a tortfeasor. We agree. Accordingly, the judgment of the court of appeals is reversed. The relevant facts are undisputed. Kleppe was injured as a result of a motor vehicle accident with an uninsured motorist. Kleppe and her husband made a claim for all of their damages under a UF&C motor vehicle insurance policy that provides uninsured motorist benefits with a limit of $300,000 per accident. The amount of Kleppe's damages has not been established. Kleppe was in the course of her employment at the time of the accident, so she is collecting and will continue to collect worker's compensation benefits from her employer's insurance carrier.